Tuesday, February 22, 2011

At a Starbucks in South Los Angeles, 14-year-old Bill Kirkpatrick III sat down with his mentor, Joe Egender, to set goals for the coming year.

On the teen's to-do list for 2011: maintain a 3.0 or higher grade-point average, become a better role model for his 8-year-old brother, make it as a starter for the school basketball team and be "the flower that grew from concrete" — a reference to a poem by the late rapper Tupac Shakur.

Since they were matched by Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles nearly six years ago, the pair have spent many weekends together, riding roller coasters, racing each other in go-karts, browsing in bookstores or sharing a booth at their favorite Inglewood diner, the Serving Spoon.

The demand for such matchups is growing. For the first time in its more than 100-year history